The Portland daily press., 1887-03-24
WRONGS OF THE INDIANS.
Many Apaches in Prison Who Helped
to Capture Geronimo.

| tary Of the Indian Rights Association. whose
Office is in Philadelphia, has just returned
from st. Augustine, Fla, where he made a
| thorough examination Of the condition Of the
| Apache prisoners now confined in Fort Mar
Ion. He says: "The object Of my journey
was to gain reliable and exact information
concerning the Apache Indians, men, wom-
en-, and children, some Of whom for more
than year past, and others for about half
that period, have been imprisoned by order
of the President in the old Spanish fort in
St. Augustine. AS much doubt existed re-
garding the causes which led to the impris-
onment of these people, their physical and
moral condition while in captivity, and the
measures looking toward their civilization,
this visitwas deemed by the Association to
be advisable.
81 went first to Carlisle, Pa, where / was
the guest of Capt. r. II. Pratt, superinten
dent of the Government Indian Training
school. My purpose was to see the Chirica-
hua boys and girls, who were taken last No
vember from Fort Marion and placed under
Capt. Pratt's care. When these children
were first put at Carlisle they were wild. un-
trained, filthy sayages. The few months
since have wrought great changes in them.
They are now clean, neat and decently
dressed. They have learned with surprising
quiekness the ways Of civilized living, and
have made remarkable progress in arithme-
tic, spelling and writing. Capt. Pratt told
me that they were as easily managed as any
of the other children. They number thirty
two boys and twelve girls. Capt. Pratt as
sembled them in one Of the large rooms, and
gave me an opportunity to tell them the rea-
son for my visit to Carlisle and Of my pro-
posed journey to their relatives Upon my |
asking them whether they had any message |
TO send By me to their friends, one boy re- |
Piled: Tell them to do what Is right, and to |
go to farming. could not but think when |
saw the prisoners, that this advice, while |
excellent, was, under the circumstances, very |
difficult OF application.
In company with Capt. j. q. Bourke of |
the Third Cavalry then went to St. Angus |
tine, where we arrived on March 8. Fort |
Marion Is a fine. example. Of the old time |
stone fortress Of the Vauban pattern. with |
bastfolaS. moat and watch towers. 1t was |
erected By tfe~.6Est Spanish settlers at st. |
Augustine toward tie ci0seNaf the sixteenth |
century There are now within IT'S. walls /
447 Indian prisoners, about 80 of whom are
only 80 have been guilty Of any recent mis-
doing, these were with Geronimo on his re-
cent raid, while most of the remainder were
employed in our army as regularly commits
l
ward by Gen. Miles, to assist the white sol
dlers in following up and finally securing
Geronimo and his hostiles. That these men
'shonld have been imprisoned on the same
footing with those Indians who were at war
with the United States, and that their fdeli
ty. and, in some instances, their valuable
service rendered to our arms should have
been rewarded by incarceration, is a fact
well calculated to attract attention. Such is
the case.
One of the most remarkable cases is that of
Chatto, Chiricahua Apache Indian. This
man was at one time hostile, but in 1888 he
Madre Mountains, at which time he made
promise of good behavior in the future, |
which he has never violated. He has since
served as scout in our army under Gen.
Crook, in which capacity he has rendered
valuable service. He has been engaged in
farming at Fort Apache (San Carlos Reser-
yation, Arizona), where he owns a house.
fourteen acres of land, and several horses
unaided labor.
Early last summer Mr.. l.. @. c. Lamar, Jr.,
the son OF the Secretary of the Interior, Wis
tied Fort Apache and held a conference with
Chatto, and asked him to visit Washington.
No hint was given to Chatto that he was un
der suspicion of wrong doing, or that his
proposed journey TO the capital was to termi-
nate within prison walls. On the contrary,
the object Of his visit, according to the state
ment made to him by Mr.. Lamar, Jr., was to
talk with the authorities concerning the pro-
posed removal of himself and his people to
better reservation. Chatto accordingly went
TO Washington with fourteen other Indians.
Secretary Lamar gave him a certificate Of
good character, and told him If he needed
anything in the way of farming implements
to ask for them. On their way back home,
as they supposed, they met Capt Dorst, who |
said Gen. Miles would give them a reserva-
tion of sixty square miles. The new reSer-
vation would contain better land than the
old. Chatto supposed that he had taken
u n IN han haaot acft thnfr a.. /
this new reservation the new chief was to re-
ceive $50 per month, and others, according to
their station, $50 and $50 per month. The
Indians were again started on their journey,
and nnally arrived, not upon the new and |
better land promised them, but within the
narrow limits OF their prison. In conclud- |
ing his narration, Chatto naively said: i do |
not think this place looks as though it con-
aimed sixty square miles.
ChattO showed me heavy and beautiful |
silver medal given him by Secretary Lamar.
He $40 years Of age, in the vigOr and prime
OF life, and dresses like decent white man.
Martinez and ki-e-ta are two Apache
scouts who were commissioned by Gen. Miles
to visit the camp of Geronimo and his band
in order to induce them to surrender. Both
Of these men found in captivity in Fort
Marion. Gen. Miles said he would give them
tenponies apiece II they would find Ger0ni-
mo and persuade him to surrender. They
went out with Lieut.. Gatewood, who had |
with him ten or twelve men, and after
marching SeVeral Gays, searching f0r the
trail Of the hostiles they finally found it.
Leaving the Lieutenant and the soldiers
eight miles behind, the two Indian scouts
went unattended into the camp OF Geroni-
mo. Tney spent three days with him trying |
to persuade him TO leave the war path and |
to surrender to Gen. Miles. They say he in
strueted them to say to Geronimo thatif he |
would surrender he might go back to Fort |
Apache. Geronimo finally consented to give |
himself up, and, in company with the Ki-e- |
ia and Matinee, he joined Lieut.. Gatewood |
and his detail Of soldiers. If the story Of the |
two scouts be correct the surrender was far |
from being unconditional. Ki-e-ta and Mar |
tinez complain that the promise of ten po- |
nies apiece If they effected the surrender has |
not been fulfilled. They received 500 |
each, but did not deem that the |
equivalent of what had been pledged |
them. Why should the United States
government. continue TO imprison men /
who have rendered such valuable services |
as Martinez and Ki-e-tap